The theme for Women’s History Month 2017 is “Honoring Trailblazing Women in Labor and Business.” The National Women’s History Project Gazette highlights the women who are being honored this year for their lifelong contributions that improve the lives of all women, sometimes achieved through legal action.

Similarly, the American Bar Association has compiled a list of trailblazing women of the legal profession. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that most of the legal and political gains made by women toward equality were made in the twentieth century – no so long ago. Although this year marks the centennial of the swearing-in of Jeannette Rankin, the first woman to become a member of Congress, the political arena remains particularly challenging for women. In honor of Women’s History Month, the United States National Archives convened a panel of cross-generational, bipartisan, former Congresswomen to discuss their work in public service. [Note: actual presentation begins at 3:26.] One panelist notes that her interest to run for office stemmed from her desire to actively work toward changing the law, not just enforcing the existing law. This desire to act in the public good was complicated merely due to their gender – a situation faced by many women.

The documented legal challenges women face forms substantial body of scholarly work that HeinOnline has compiled into a database called Women and the Law (Peggy). “[Peggy] is a collection that brings together books, biographies and periodicals dedicated to the role of women in society and the law. This unique collection of materials provides a convenient platform for users to research the progression of women’s roles and rights in society over the past 200 years. Also included are more than 70 titles from Emory University Law School’s Feminism and Legal Theory Project which provide a platform to view the effect of law and culture on the female gender.”

The Women’s Studies International database pulls together over 232,000 records from ten separate databases and will be useful for researchers seeking a broader scholarly perspective on women’s history and rights.

For a more general resource on American Women’s history, see Click. “This resource highlights the collective action and individual achievements of women from the 1940s to the present.  In the spirit of 1970s consciousness-raising, the name refers to the “click” moment when women discovered the powerful ideas of modern feminism.”